Su Yunting stared at the messages on WeChat, her eyes widening as disbelief filled her pupils.
Nervous?
Was she?
Where was she nervous!
Don’t just say things without evidence.
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【Where am I nervous?】
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【Why would you think that?】
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【? ??‐?Huh?….?.?】
The certain someone claiming not to be nervous felt her heart leap in anxiety the moment the messages were sent.
Shen Yuli truly lived up to his reputation as the most difficult man in the novel; how could he be so perceptive?
Shen Yuli raised an eyebrow as he watched the messages finally pop up after a long silence.
This response only made her seem more nervous.
He had asked one question, and she had replied with a long string of messages.
He glanced again at the wall of text on the screen.
Generally, only people with a guilty conscience messaged like this.
He had used a basic attack, and she had unleashed her entire ultimate.
However, Shen Yuli didn’t intend to expose her. He figured the transition from the online dating app to WeChat had made her a bit uneasy.
She was the one who wanted to add him on WeChat, and now she was the one struggling to adapt.
And yet, her very first sentence had been claiming she was his girlfriend.
Bold yet cowardly.
As for that subtle feeling of difference, Shen Yuli attributed it to… likely just photos taken in different states.
The teacher on stage was still lecturing, and it was getting boring, so Shen Yuli replied with a casual one-handed type.
Meanwhile, in the infirmary, the doctor produced an ice pack and handed it to Su Yunting.
“The test results will take a while. Hold this and apply a cold compress for a bit. There are chairs over there; sit down and rest.”
The doctor pointed to a nearby chair. “I’ll prescribe medication once the results are out.”
Because she had been hit in the head, the doctor feared a concussion and had ordered a CT scan.
“Okay, thank you, teacher.” Su Yunting took the ice pack with both hands.
As she pressed it to her forehead, she instinctively let out a soft hiss.
Because of the cold, and because of the pain.
The school doctor watched the girl sitting obediently to the side. Tears were nearly spilling from her eyes due to the pain, but she forced them back.
Seeing this, the school doctor couldn’t help but mutter, “You young girl are really too carefree. You should have come immediately after getting injured. How could you wait this long? What if there was a serious problem?”
Su Yunting had been hit by the ball while walking.
At the time, her head had felt dizzy, and a flood of memories had been racing through her mind, leaving her with no energy to think about anything else.
In a daze, she had returned to her dormitory and fallen fast asleep, dreaming a dream that seemed brief yet felt infinitely long.
Short enough to be told in a few sentences, yet long enough to summarize her entire life.
She actually had to thank that ball; otherwise, she wouldn’t have had her Awakening.
But she couldn’t tell the teacher that.
Knowing the teacher was concerned for her, Su Yunting listened quietly without arguing. Her eyes curved into a small smile as she admitted her mistake.
“I understand, teacher. I’ll definitely be more careful next time.”
Perhaps because the pain in her forehead was so prominent, the nervousness she had felt over Shen Yuli’s words dissipated slightly.
As she was applying the ice pack, her phone rang, pulling her thoughts back.
L: 【It’s nothing. I saw you didn’t reply for so long, then suddenly sent so much. I thought it was nervousness caused by not being used to a different app. Am I wrong?】
Seeing this, Su Yunting immediately followed his lead in her reply.
【Yes, I think I am a bit nervous because of the change in apps.】
Seeing him mention that she hadn’t replied earlier…
Wasn’t that because she was scared of him?
But Su Yunting couldn’t say that. After thinking for a moment, she took a photo of herself.
She sent it over.
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【I didn’t ignore your messages on purpose. I got hit by a ball, and I’m in the infirmary right now.】
This provided a reasonable explanation for her silence while simultaneously steering the conversation away from the topic of her nervousness.
Two birds with one stone.
Besides, the fact that she had been hit was true, so it wasn’t exactly a lie.
Shen Yuli’s gaze paused as he looked at the photo, then he clicked it open.
The photo only captured the upper half of her face. The girl was holding an ice pack, pressing it gently against her forehead.
Even with the obstruction, he could see a large swollen area around it.
Likely due to the pain, those originally beautiful eyes were clouded with a layer of mist, watery and looking somewhat pitiful.
Shen Yuli realized what was different now; these eyes seemed to have less of a calculating feel than the first photo.
Shen Yuli stared at the photo for a long while.
L: 【Does it hurt a lot?】
Su Yunting: …
Wasn’t that obvious?
With a giant lump on her head, how could it not hurt?
Su Yunting complained inwardly.
Despite the inner complaining, she replied obediently: 【Strawberry Sweetheart: Yes, it hurts a lot 😭🤧💦】
Whether it was an illusion or not, Shen Yuli actually sensed a hint of “good girl” sweetness from those few words.
Thinking of something, he moved his fingers.
In the infirmary, Su Yunting instantly sat bolt upright.
She stared at the chat page with a look of utter bewilderment.
She had sent the photo simply to prove that what she said was true—that she really had been hit and wasn’t lying to him.
But now, could someone please tell her what this transfer was about?
L: 【Transfer 10,000】
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【?】
Strawberry Sweetheart: 【Why are you sending me money?】
Upon seeing the transfer, alarm bells rang wildly in Su Yunting’s head.
She hadn’t forgotten that in the original plot, she had ended up in prison because she took the fall for He Jiaojiao’s fraud.
If she accepted this money, what if he later labeled her a scammer?
She didn’t want to eat government food, nor did she want to operate a sewing machine in prison.
Su Yunting refused decisively!
She was determined not to leave herself even the slightest possibility of going in.
Shen Yuli looked at the large question mark and the confused inquiry that followed.
He didn’t understand.
Playing hard to get?
It really wasn’t Shen Yuli’s fault for thinking this.
During the few days on the online dating app, He Jiaojiao had dropped many hints, both subtle and overt, for Shen Yuli to buy things for her.
Although she never asked directly, the implication in every word was for him to pay.
Her methods were clumsy and transparent.
Every day, watching the messages she sent was like watching monkeys perform in a zoo.
His replies had been beyond perfunctory.
When she sent photos of clothes, he replied with a period.
When she sent photos of bags, he replied with a period.
Finally, when she claimed she was sick and miserable and wanted food from a certain high-end restaurant, Shen Yuli still replied with a period.
He Jiaojiao: ??
No, really, could you be any more dismissive?
A period? What’s with the period? Are you completing some kind of check-in task?
If it weren’t for the fact that she saw very expensive things posted on this account on the first day, and could tell from their conversation that he was definitely wealthy, she would have quit this “online girlfriend” gig long ago based on his dismissive attitude alone.
Ultimately, He Jiaojiao was unwilling to let a high-quality fish slip away, so even if he was perfunctory, she persisted in messaging him.
Previously on the dating app, Shen Yuli had seen “Sweetheart” use countless similar tactics.
Claiming she felt unwell somewhere… and so on.
The tactics were too clumsy.
He had never taken them seriously.
He had simply completed the penalty check-in task as usual.
But this time, looking at that photo, the person in the picture had red eyes, and the large lump on her forehead made her look pitiful.
Without thinking much, he transferred the money.
His thoughts paused for a moment after sending it.
However, he didn’t care much.
Shen Yuli had always been someone who followed his whims. Previously, he didn’t want to transfer money, so he couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge whatever the other person said.
Now that he wanted to transfer it, he naturally didn’t overthink it.
Even if he knew this might be “Sweetheart’s” tactic as before, it didn’t matter.
He would treat it as paying for his current mood.
But the other party’s response was completely unexpected.
Not only did she not accept it, but she sent a question mark and asked why he was sending her money.
L: 【Aren’t you injured?】
L: 【For your medical treatment.】
Su Yunting blinked, and after a moment, she understood his meaning.
So, he thought she sent the photo as a roundabout way of asking for money, which is why he transferred it?
And the fact that he could think this and execute it so quickly meant that someone had definitely done this before—and had probably succeeded.
Who that person was required no thought.
But she really had just sent it to prove herself; she had no intention of asking for money.
The “Sweetheart” on the dating app was He Jiaojiao, not her.
But could she say that? She couldn’t.
Su Yunting was in a predicament where she had much to say but could say nothing.